Tinariwen (Tuareg: “ⵜⵏⵔⵓⵏ”; from the Tamasheq (Berber), Tenere, the desert) is a Tuareg music group, originating from Tessalit in the Adrar des Ifoghas, a region shared between northern Mali and southern Algeria.

Their music, assouf, which means loneliness, nostalgia in Tamasheq, is a synthesis of blues, rock and traditional Tuareg music.

In 2019, their ninth album “Amadjar” (the stranger in Tamasheq) explores the quest for self and the sense of sharing and solidarity. The album was prepared and recorded in southern Morocco, accompanied by an old camper van converted into a makeshift studio.

In 2017, for their 8th album “Elwan”, the group had to move away from their desert occupied by jihadists and traffickers. A situation metaphorically represented by the Frenchman Axel Digoix, who directed the animated video clip of the track “Ténéré Tàqqàl”.